Removing atherosclerotic material without transecting the vessel wall is a common problem for vascular surgeons and interventional cardiologists. The goal of this project is to design and construct a device that uses evanescent optical waves for precise, controlled laser ablation. For laser light incident at an angle to an optic-tissue interface greater than or equal to the critical angle, an evanescent optical wave is launched into the tissue. With evanescent optical waves, there is no free-beam propagation and the laser energy can be confined to a layer less than one wavelength thick at the optic-tissue interface. Several device designs have been proposed and constructed. The Duke University Mark III Infrared Free-Electron Laser is used to study energy deposition and ablation mechanisms at sapphire-tissue and zinc sulfide-tissue interfaces. Ablation experiments on human low-density lipoprotein and aorta tissue are presented. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.